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BURMA RELATED NEWS - February
03, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Fourteen bodies found in Thai
river
Xinhuanet - Japan Provides Technical Aid to
Myanmar
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Exports Less Teak, Hardwood
in 1st 10 Months of 2001
Bkk Post - 14 Karen bodies found in stream
Bkk Post - Four-month
crackdown on illegals
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday February 3, 1:03 PM
Fourteen bodies found in Thai river BANGKOK (Reuters) - The bodies
of 14 Karen hill tribes people were found with their throats cut in a stream
near the border with Myanmar in northwestern Thailand on Saturday.
Patrol police said the bodies floating in a river in Tak province, 423 km
(264 miles) northwest of Bangkok, were murdered many days ago.
The motive for the mass murder was not known and could be linked to illegal
migration but no charges were issued, they said.
Police said generally there was fighting between Karen groups along the
Thai-Myanmar border.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan Provides Technical Aid to
Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2002-02-03 10:06:46 YANGON, February 3 (Xinhuanet)
-- The Japanese government has provided about 20 million U.S. dollars of
technical aid to Myanmar in the current fiscal year ending in March, according
to the resident office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
here.
The aid extended by the JICA, which is the Japanese government's overseas
aid agency, covered projects in the sectors of agriculture, health, drug control
and economy.
The technical aid in the fiscal year shows a big increase over the 5
million dollars provided by the agency in each of the last three years. Such
assistance gave priority to health, education, agriculture, basic infrastructure
and economic policy.
At present, the JICA is implementing four technical cooperation projects in
Myanmar -- an irrigation technology center, a seed bank, a forestry development
training center and a leprosy eradication program, according to the
sources.
The JICA has been providing technical aid to Myanmar for over 20
years.
According to the Japanese embassy here, in 2001, Japan provides Myanmar
with the Official Development Assistance (ODA) worth 1.689 billion yens (about
13.8 million dollars and in January this year, a similar aid of 203 million yens
(about 1.65 million dollars) for human resources development scholarship project
was extended.
Up to 2001, Japan had provided 20 times of debt relief to Myanmar including
a sum of 3.594 billion yens (about 29.22 million dollars) in 2001.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Exports Less Teak,
Hardwood in 1st 10 Months of 2001
Xinhuanet 2002-02-03 10:12:59 YANGON, February 3 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar exported 256,681 cubic-meters of teak in the first ten months of
2001, a 4.57-percent drop from the same period of 2000, according to the latest
figures released by the country's Central Statistical Organization.
Meanwhile, during the period, the country exported 304,225 cubic-meters of
hardwood, a 27.58-percent reduction from the corresponding period of 2000.
Export earning from teak and hardwood totaled 217.26 million U.S. dollars
during the ten-month period.
In 2000, Myanmar exported a total of 302,810 cubic-meters of teak and
494,259.5 cubic-meters of hardwood with their total earning amounting to 201
million dollars.
Timber has become Myanmar's second largest export goods after agricultural
products and foreign exchange earned through the export of timber accounted for
about 20 percent of Myanmar's total export earning.
The country's teak enjoys a good reputation in the world and 85percent of
the teak in the world market is produced in Myanmar.
According to other official figures, Myanmar produced about 200,000 tons of
teak from its forests each year since the fiscal year 1997-98, down from about
400,000 tons in the 1970s. Myanmar's forest covers 50 percent of its total land
area, registering 33 million hectares, seven percent less than in 1962.
To overcome teak shortage, Myanmar launched a special plantation plan five
years ago and has been able to plant more than 32,400 hectares of teak.
Of the forest area, 18.6 percent are reserved and protected public forest,
the percentage of which is being targeted to increase to 30.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - February 03,
2002.
14 Karen bodies found in stream
The bodies of 14 Karen workers were found with their throats cut in a
stream near the border in Mae Ramat district yesterday.
Border police yesterday morning examined the corpses of seven men and seven
women aged 14-45 afloat near the banks of Huay Mae Lamao stream in tambon Mae
Jarao.
An autopsy found they were murdered more than 10 days ago, some from stab
wounds to the body. The killer cut their throats later.
Police believe the victims were Burmese Karen who worked on farms near the
border. The motive for the mass murder was not known.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - February 03,
2002.
Four-month crackdown on illegals
Campaign to run in 9 provinces till June
Anucha Charoenpo
Police will launch a four-month campaign, the first for this year, to crack
down on illegal foreign labourers in big cities.
The campaign will run from next Sunday to June 10 in nine provinces _ Tak,
Ranong, Phuket, Samut Sakhon, Bangkok, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Samut Prakan and
Sa Kaeo.
Pol Lt-Gen Charnvut Watcharabukka, commissioner attached to the General
Staff Office, who oversees the Illegal Labour Suppression Centre, said one
million alien workers were thought to be working illegally.
Most had jobs in garment factories, agricultural businesses and fishing
industries.
Their employees had not registered them with the Labour and Public Welfare
Ministry since an amnesty for illegal alien workers last December.
Some 560,000 foreign workers had registered since last year.
``Since the labour relaxation ended last year, we have not carried out any
clamp-downs.
``We estimate that some 36,000 out of an estimated one million foreign
labourers have to be caught and repatriated soon,'' he said.
The labour suppression committee was worried about a new influx of illegal
foreign workers. Thailand has asked its neighbours to set up holding centres for
repatriated people.
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